


best laid plans

by jasondont (minigami)



Series: a million little battles [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, M/M, Power Imbalance, Unresolved Sexual Tension, no betas we die like etc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:46:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26319652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minigami/pseuds/jasondont
Summary: Their gunship is shot down; Cody gets to blow up a tank and, meanwhile, Obi-Wan does what he does best: feeling guilty about things.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi, CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Series: a million little battles [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1821466
Comments: 5
Kudos: 159





	best laid plans

**Author's Note:**

> tfw you have a crush on your commander, who's fifteen years younger than you, not recognised as a person by your own government and also extremely hot. 
> 
> (there's a playlist!: [link to spotify](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/38wSTRhKzQxmkjQ8PLudJx?si=B2C1ULWoTFetQDRjiJwt6g)

Their gunship is shot down when they are ten klicks from the rendezvous point, at the edge of one of the lakes, and the only reason they don’t all drown is that their pilot manages to manoeuvre the ship into the shallows while they go down.   
Obi-Wan feels the hit half a second before it happens, but by then it’s too late. He manages to grab Cody, but he’s too slow to catch Gon as well, and the comms officer goes flying.

Later, once they are already back on the Venator, alive and mostly whole, Obi-Wan will spend a few weeks thinking about it. He will try and find out how the hell the Separatists knew where they’d be--how it was possible that, after weeks of fighting, a whole squadron of battle droids with their corresponding tactical droid, tank included, had managed to escape his scouts and ClonInt and set a successful trap. But that will be later--at that moment, the only thing Obi-Wan can do is close his eyes, Cody’s armour under his hands and his shock hitting his mind like a wave, and shield all four of them from the danger he half-knows is coming as best as he can. 

The shot hits the gunship starboard, and the cannon must be close enough that it manages to rupture one of the ship’s engines and the door, and for a while, everything is noise and heat and chaos. Obi-Wan grits his teeth, holding onto Cody, his eyes on his comms officer, who’s still alive but hurt, barely conscious, black and red over the white plasteel. Cody and Obi-Wan tumble down, the commander’s hard armour bruising--the Jedi holds onto him nonetheless, and after an instant of confusion Cody catches on, tries to put himself between the hole in the gunship and Obi-Wan.  
“I’m perfectly well where I am, Commander,” says Obi-Wan through gritted teeth, his voice almost inaudible under the whistling of the wind, and Cody snorts, annoyed, but stops moving.  
“One of us is wearing armour and it’s not you, sir,” he answers, nonetheless. Obi-Wan rolls his eyes, but before he can answer back they hit the water, and then it’s too hard to do anything but claw with all his strength to consciousness.

When he finally manages to clear his head, Cody is already up and shooting, halfway to Gon’s side. Obi-Wan probes his mind slightly, just to let him know that he’s fine and going to check on the other trooper, and he feels more than sees his commander’s slight head tilt, the other man’s whole attention on the oncoming droids.   
Gon’s leg is broken, but he’s otherwise fine and conscious and already trying to raise the battalion. When he sees Obi-Wan he sighs, relief mingled with pain. He’s lost his helmet, and his dark eyes are too bright.  
“Switch is fine but stuck, sir,” he says. When Obi-Wan grabs him under his arms to drag him to the other side of the ship he grunts and then exhales--his leg is definitely broken. “And they are jamming us, sir, they knew we were coming.”  
“A trap, then,” Obi-Wan says. He looks for Gon’s blaster and finds it close to the port hatch. He calls it to his hand with a flick of his fingers and passes it on to the trooper, who sighs, full of relief. The Jedi smiles crookedly. “Cody?”  
His commander doesn’t even look at him. He is all ice-cold focus, his mind cool and calm. Obi-Wan blinks the blood from his face and then stands up, his saber in his right hand. The ship is listing to port, but it’s stopped moving. They will be fine, at least for a while.   
“Switch is still stuck. I’m going out to grab him,” he says. Cody grunts.  
“Do it fast, sir. They are coming closer,” he answers.

Obi-Wan powers up his saber and cuts through the port side door, trying to do it above the waterline, careful of the way the gunship moves. He thinks he must have cracked a rib when they went down--breathing hurts. He pushes the pain aside, reaching out for the Force. It’s hard, finding that calm place within himself between the darkness and the damp and the blood and the blaster shots, but after more than a year of war, Obi-Wan’s used to it.  
Switch is fine. He actually cheers when he sees Obi-Wan, and he can’t help but smile while he cuts through the hatch’s locking mechanism. He grabs the pilot before the man can jump into the water, and helps him climb down the side while shots whistle over their heads. Flightsuits are heavy.

Once they are back inside, Cody throws one of his pistols to the pilot, who grabs it from the air with one hand and takes a position on the other side of the hole. Obi-Wan crouches behind his commander’s shoulder, feeling kind of useless, his sight on the tank and the approaching battle droids.  
“We need to take out that cannon and the tactical droid, sir,” Cody says.  
“He’s the one jamming us, sir” Gon says. He has the glazed look of someone who has been administered one of the good anaesthetics, but he has his comm equipment on his lap and is doing… something to the dials. Anakin would know, but unfortunately, Obi-Wan isn’t half-droid like his former Padawan.   
He hums.  
“I will do it,” he says. It won’t be fun, but he’ll manage. He’s pretty sure he’s fast enough, fractured rib and all.   
“With all due respect, sir,” Cody starts. He doesn’t even look back at him. He hasn’t taken off his helmet, and he’s still shooting, but Obi-Wan can feel the exasperation come off him like a wave. “I will be the one to go. You should stay here, keep their eyes on you.”  
“Oh, so you want me to act as bait, don’t you, Commander?” says Obi-Wan mildly.   
Switch chuckles at his right, giddy, half-hysterical.   
“No, sir, I want you to be a distraction,” Cody answers, falsely circumspect, his voice full of humour. “Think that you and your shiny sword can be distracting enough?”  
Obi-Wan sniffs, amused despite himself. “I suppose I could try, yes. What is your plan, Commander?”  
“I’ll grab the detonators and swim down and around the droids. Put a couple inside the tank’s hatch. Gon says that’s where the tact’ droid is.”  
“And then?”  
“Then I run like hell, I guess.”  
“I think you have been spending too much time with Anakin and his captain, Commander,” Obi-Wan says, exasperated. Cody snorts a laugh. “Once the tank’s gone I’ll join you on the shore.”  
Cody sighs. “Yes, sir.”

And that’s that. Obi-Wan goes back out. He climbs on the gunship’s roof and powers on his saber--immediately, it feels as if each and every one of the droids in the squadron before him focuses their fire on him. He raises his weapon, falls into Soresu, and lets his body do all the work, his mind following Cody’s while he swims and he crawls and he dashes between the trees. He’s stripped off most of his armour, and without the white and orange, he’s almost invisible. When Obi-Wan feels his mind sing with success, he jumps--a second later the tank explodes.   
The explosion takes out half the droid squadron, and taking care of the rest is almost… easy. It’s also extremely satisfying--cutting down droids is simple, straightforward. For a few minutes, Obi-Wan disappears within himself, turns into something that doesn’t think because it doesn’t need to. 

When he’s done, he powers down his saber and turns to Cody. He blinks. 

The clone trooper is fine. Slightly scratched, breathing hard, but fine. He’s also half-naked, wearing only the lower part of his black undersuit and his belt. He holds one of the droids’ blasters in his right hand, and he’s soaked and breathing hard and grinning wide, his pride and satisfaction at a job well done resonating in the Force.   
“Sir,” he says when he sees Obi-Wan looking. The Jedi drops his gaze, clips his saber to his belt while the commander makes his way towards him, stepping carefully between the droid parts. His feet are bare, and Obi-Wan frowns slightly.   
“Sir? Is everything alright?”  
Obi-Wan raises his eyes. He has to force himself to look Cody in the eyes, but at least he isn’t _karking_ blushing. Shame fills his chest. He should know better. Cody is many years younger than him, despite his brilliance and his competence, and Obi-Wan is his superior officer, and that’s without taking into account everything else.  
There’s just so much of him. So much skin.

And, oh, if it were just that. He’s clever and funny and ruthless and kind--the fact that he’s also beautiful is just because Obi-Wan was born unlucky.

Obi-Wan smiles. He tilts his head in the direction of his feet.   
“You’ll cut your feet, Cody,” he says.   
His commander rolls his eyes, comfortable in his own skin.   
“The boots weigh five kilos each, sir,” he answers, half-smiling. He falls into step with Obi-Wan and lets him guide them around the droids. The air smells of hot metal and tibanna gas and carbon scoring--underneath the stink of battle, however, Obi-Wan can sense the scent of green, growing things, of clean water. It’s early summer, and the planet’s only sun is making him sweat--if he isn’t careful, he’ll burn.  
They return to the gunship. It’s a few meters from the shore, and Switch is already out, blaster leant against a shoulder. The water reaches his waist. When he sees them he raises an arm.  
Obi-Wan swallows and then makes himself put his hand on Cody’s naked shoulder. He has a scar there, raised against the smooth brown skin. Cody blinks down at him and stops walking.  
“Go suit back up before our pick-up gets here,” Obi-Wan says. “I’ll take care of Gon.”

He then very carefully removes his hand and goes to do just that.

**Author's Note:**

> obi-wan's turn to Look Respectfully


End file.
